GIFT 
MAY  22    !9I8 


The  McKay  Endowment 

AND 

Applied  Science  at  Harvard 


By  HENNEN  JENNINGS 


The  McKay  Endowment 

AND 

Applied  Science  at  Harvard 


By  HENNEN  JENNINGS 


PRIVATELY   PRINTED 


\ 


x  vr 

> 


The  Gordon  McKay  Bequest 

HP  HE  contributions  sent  to  the  HARVARD  ALUMNI  BULLE- 
*  TIN  by  Professors  Lawrence  J.  Henderson,  Theodore 
W.  Richards,  and  William  Morton  Wheeler  give  most  ex- 
cellent suggestions  as  to  a  new  start  of  applied  science  at 
Harvard  and  the  best  future  use  that  can  be  made  of  the 
McKay  Endowment  Fund. 

No  attempt  is  here  made  to  tear  down  their  work,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  to  support  some  of  their  main  lines,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  stimulate  further  intelligent  discussion  by  mak- 
ing an  attempt  at  surveying  the  ground  leading  up  to  the 
present  condition  of  things,  and  making  more  detailed  anal- 
ysis of  some  of  the  operative  forces  in  the  problem,  and  thus 
better  equipping  future  contributors. 

The  writer  takes  a  deep  interest  in  these  problems  as  he 
was  a  student  at  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  obtaining 
the  degree  of  Civil  Engineer  in  1877.  His  knowledge, 
sympathy,  and  interest,  however,  are  not  wholly  marshalled 
on  the  technical  side  of  the  subject,  as  his  son  obtained  his 
Harvard  A.B.  in  1915,  and  is  enrolled  in  the  Harvard  Law 
School,  though  now  taking  his  part  in  France. 

While  not  having  had  opportunity  of  meeting  Mr.  Gordon 
McKay,  the  writer,  as  consulting  engineer  of  the  Conrey 
Placer  Mining  Co.,  Ruby,  Mont.,  was  thrown  in  intimate 
business  contact  with  Messrs.  J.  J.  Myers  and  F.  F.  Stan- 
ley, directors  of  this  company,  as  well  as  trustees  of  the 
McKay  estate. 

Mr.  Myers  was  attorney  for  Mr.  McKay  for  some  years ; 


379924 


4 

he  was,  besides,  first  and  last  a  Harvard  man.  He  took  his 
A.B.  in  1869,  and  was  also  a  graduate  of  the  Harvard  Law 
School.  He  dwelt  in  Wadsworth  House  in  the  College 
Yard  for  many  years.  As  president  of  the  Conrey  Co.,  he 
was  ever  zealous  of  Harvard's  financial  interest,  and  yet, 
in  duty  bound,  he  felt  impelled  to  stimulate  legal  action 
against  the  Harvard-Tech  merger,  which  caused  him  sorrow 
and  concern  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  April,  1915. 

Mr.  F.  F.  Stanley,  as  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Con- 
rey Co.,  had  dealings  with  McKay  and  Shaler  in  such  capac- 
ity from  the  starting  of  the  venture  in  1896  up  to  the 
time  of  their  deaths,  and  with  the  writer  from  1906  up  to 
the  present  time.  He  was  connected  with  McKay  in  con- 
fidential business  relations  for  over  35  years. 

These  gentlemen  had  the  highest  respect  and  regard  for 
Mr.  Shaler  and  Mr.  McKay;  they  were  also  able  to  give 
assurance  of  the  close  and  sympathetic  relationship  existing 
between  them. 

The  writer  makes  no  claim  to  being  a  trained  or  com- 
petent educator,  nor  has  he  ambition  in  that  direction ;  but, 
as  he  has  had  opportunities  as  a  mining  man  to  obtain  the 
views  of  others  more  competent  on  the  subject,  he  deems  it 
possible  that  it  may  give  increased  weight  to  his  views, 
should  he  mention  some  of  them. 

As  a  member  of  the  Departmental  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Education  on  the  Royal  College  of  Science,  etc., 
London,  1904-1905,  of  which  R.  B.  Haldane — now  Lord 
Haldane — was  chairman,  he  was  given  opportunity  of  hear- 
ing the  views  of  some  of  the  best-known  technical  men  of 
Great  Britain. 


As  president  of  the  Institution  of  Mining  and  Metallurgy, 
1904,  he  presided  at  some  of  the  meetings  of  this  institution 
when  the  equipment  of  laboratories  for  teaching  and  re- 
search in  the  mineral  industries  was  most  earnestly  and  ex- 
tensively discussed,  contributions  to  the  discussion  even  be- 
ing obtained  from  some  eminent  instructors  in  this  country. 

He  was  member  of  the  Harvard  Visiting  Committee  on 
Mining  and  Metallurgy  from  1906  to  1914. 

Professor  Shaler. 

His  greatest  opportunity  and  privilege  in  connection  with 
instructors  was  his  contact  with  Professor  Shaler,  who 
seems  to  him  to  have  been  a  prince  among  educators,  an 
inspiration  to  his  students. 

Mr.  Shaler  not  only  was  great  as  a  teacher  but  his  versa- 
tility and  power  were  such  that  he  took  a  foremost  place 
as  a  humanist,  philosopher,  naturalist,  and  engineer,  and, 
•withal,  glowed  with  poetic  imagination  and  kindly  humor. 

The  writer's  first  meeting  with  Mr.  Shaler  dates  back  to 
the  former's  freshman  year  at  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School,  in  1873.  While  sitting  in  his  room — a  rather  for- 
lorn "scientific  pill"  (an  academic  classification  given  Law- 
rence Scientific  students  by  their  classmates  at  that  time)— 
a  knock  at  his  door  brought  into  his  life  an  influence  that 
can  never  be  taken  away.  Mr.  Shaler  had  called  upon  him 
because  he  saw  his  name  in  the  catalogue  as  coming  from 
Kentucky,  and,  he  explained,  there  were  few  Kentuckians 
at  the  University  and  he  thought  possibly  he  might  be 
lonely.  After  this,  until  Mr.  Shaler's  death  in  1906,  the 


writer  was  a  welcomed  visitor  at  his  home,  and  kept  in 
touch  with  him  as  far  as  his  long  absences  from  this  coun- 
try would  permit. 

A  few  weeks  before  Mr.  Shaler's  death,  the  writer  visited 
him  in  Cambridge  and  spoke  of  the  wonderful  influence  Mr. 
Shaler  had  exerted  on  his  students  during  his  long  teaching 
career.  Mr.  Shaler  admitted  that  he  prided  himself  upon 
two  things  during  his  forty  years'  stay  at  Cambridge — one, 
that  he  had  never  done  his  colleagues  or  students  the  dis- 
courtesy of  keeping  them  waiting  at  any  appointment  he  had 
made;  the  other,  that  with  the  thousands  of  students  with 
whom  he  had  been  thrown  in  contact,  he  never  found  any  so 
hopelessly  bad  that  he  had  to  report  them  to  the  Faculty, 
but  admitted  he  had  given  them  some  fierce  tongue-lashings 
himself. 

The  essence  of  his  power  was  not  punishment,  but  rather 
sympathy  and  suasion,  and  this  is  beautifully  told  in  the 
"Autobiography  of  Nathaniel  Southgate  Shaler,"  in  the 
Memoir  by  his  wife,  published  1909,  pages  374  to  376, 
wherein  she  sets  forth  as  follows  his  relations  with  students : 

The  truth  is,  as  time  wore  on,  mere  intellectual  distinction  un- 
accompanied by  high  character  was  held  in  only  moderate  esteem; 
to  his  mind  the  supreme  excellence  consisted  in  being  a  gentleman. 
But  in  whatever  shape  it  presented  itself,  whether  able-minded  or 
dull-witted,  he  had  great  reverence  for  the  organism  called  man, 
and  was  ever  conscious  of  the  immense  struggle  the  ages  had 
witnessed  to  bring  him  to  the  place  where  he  now  stands.  He  not 
infrequently  quoted  Emerson's  saying,  that  it  was  something  for 
man  to  have  got  up  on  his  hind  legs  and  shuffled  off  some  of  his 
animal  propensities.  It  was  this  historic  sense  that  enabled  him 
to  see  the  latent  significance  that  lay  beneath  the  smooth-faced 


vacancies  of  the  youths  that  passed  before  him,  and  to  such  of  these 
as  would  submit  to  his  guidance  he  was  a  born  director  of  souls. 
How  many  did  submit  is  shown  by  the  hundreds  of  letters  from 
students  acknowledging  the  help  he  had  given  them,  the  perverted 
ways  abandoned  at  his  stirring  call  to  lead  the  clean  and  whole- 
some life.  His  willingness  to  bother,  up  to  a  certain  point,  with 
men  of  crooked  ways,  is  all  the  more  remarkable  since  there  was  no 
one  who  had  less  call  for  indulgence  than  he.  Nevertheless,  his  long 
experience  had  taught  him  to  weigh  a  man's  errors  against  his 
temptations,  and  these  he  felt  were  to  a  certain  extent  involved 
in  the  previous  conditions  of  the  man's  life.  He  therefore  looked 
upon  individuals  tolerantly,  with  a  discriminating  eye  as  to  their 
values  and  their  needs,  and  without  being  sermonic  he  sooner  or 
later  imparted  to  them  a  sense  of  what  was  dross  and  what 
was  gold — a  lesson  which  he  himself  had  so  well  learned.  The 
fact  is,  his  influence  for  good  was  great  because  he  lived  on  the  plane 
of  right  doing  to  which  he  directed  others. 

Mr.  Shaler's  relations  with  his  students  were  the  most  vital 
and  interesting  of  the  contacts  that  came  to  him.  Young  men  of  all 
degrees  and  temperaments  liked  him,  not  because  he  spared  their 
faults,  was  truckling,  or  sought  to  be  popular,  but  because  he  met 
them  on  the  broad  level  of  humanity;  and  if  in  his  estimate  of  them 
he  sometimes  gave  them  credit  for  what  they  should  be,  rather  than 
for  what  they  were,  in  the  long  run  his  judgment  was  as  true  as 
it  was  generous.  The  foundation  of  the  attractive  power  that  drew 
men  to  him  was  his  manliness  and  outgoing  sympathy;  he  had  a 
kind  word  to  bridge  the  deeps  that  lie  between  most  human  beings. 
Furthermore,  when  he  commended  a  student,  it  was  with  whole- 
heartily  liberality;  when  he  condemned  him  it  was  in  a  broad  and 
catholic  way.  Detesting  anything  like  mechanical  treatment  of  a 
human  soul,  he  refused  to  be  hemmed  in  by  rules  or  to  raise  author- 
ity to  a  system  of  oppression.  Each  individual  was  to  be  treated 
with  reference  to  his  capacities.  "The  business  of  the  true  teach- 
er," he  says,  "is  like  that  of  the  gardener  who  is  dealing  with  hy- 
brids, where  the  product  of  each  seed  is  a  problem  to  be  studied 


8 


at  every  step  of  its  development,  to  be  fostered  by  all  the  resources 
in  the  way  of  soil  and  climate  which  can  be  applied  to  it  through 
all  the  resources  of  art." 

What  other  equipment  of  experience  Mr.  Shaler  had  for 
his  tasks  can  best  be  told  by  again  quoting  from  the  same 
Memoir,  pages  217,  218,  as  follows: 

The  fervid  rate  at  which  men  lived  in  the  early  sixties  of  the 
last  century  may  be  inferred  from  the  events  which  took  place  in 
Mr.  Whaler's  own  life  before  he  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-two. 
He  already  had  taken  his  S.B.  degree  with  honors;  had  become  a 
captain  of  artillery;  and  had  chosen  his  wife.  This  fervor  of  a  par- 
ticular period  which  he  shared  with  others,  eventually  crystallized 
into  a  permanent  personal  quality,  for  without  fervor  he  could 
never  have  gone  out  as  he  did  to  meet  life  on  all  sides.  Rich  ex- 
periences came  to  him  in  military  and  civil  affairs,  in  his  work  as 
field  geologist,  mining  expert,  director  of  a  state  survey,  member 
of  various  state  commissions  and  of  two  bureaus  of  the  national 
government;  as  traveller,  prose-writer  on  many  subjects,  and  poet. 
At  twenty-three  he  became  lecturer,  at  twenty-seven  professor,  and 
dean  at  fifty. 

Gordon  McKay. 

His  relationship  with  Mr.  Gordon  McKay  can  be  best 
obtained  from  this  Memoir,  pages  327,  328,  and  the  justi- 
fication of  giving  further  quotation  from  it  seems  evident, 
as  it  speaks  well  of  one  to  whom  Harvard  men  are  so  in- 
debted : 

Since  Mr.  Gordon  McKay  was  destined,  at  a  later  period,  to 
play  so  large  a  part  in  Mr.  Shaler's  life  and  in  that  of  the  Univer- 
sity, the  above  allusion  to  him  would  seem  to  call  for  a  word 


of  explanation.  Mr.  Shaler's  acquaintance  with  Mr.  McKay,  one  of 
Harvard's  greatest  benefactors,  began  in  1865,  and  from  that  time 
on  he  knew  him  intimately  until  Mr.  McKay's  death  in  1903.  In- 
deed he  somewhere  says  he  never  knew  any  man  so  well  or  so 
long.  For  many  years  they  were  very  close  neighbors,  and  at  first 
were  drawn  together  by  the  mutual  interest  in  inventions  and  min- 
ing problems.  The  side  of  his  character  which  Mr.  McKay  pre- 
sented to  his  friend  was  one  of  great  dignity  and  kindliness.  More- 
over, his  mind  was  constantly  reaching  out  to  large  enterprises,  and 
in  these  excursions  he  sought  for  sympathy  and  suggestions  from  a 
source  which  he  well  knew  would  never  fail  him.  On  his  part,  Mr. 
Shaler  found,  in  many  ways,  great  satisfaction  in  his  business 
relations  with  Mr.  McKay,  who  could  imaginatively  project  him- 
self into  any  large  enterprise  and  grasp  the  possibilities  of  an 
unverified  hypothesis,  whereas  with  prosaic  men  of  affairs  of  the 
average  type  Mr.  Shaler's  imagination  was  often  a  barrier.  Be- 
cause he  saw  far  beyond  the  immediate  question,  they  sometimes 
seemed  to  doubt  his  practical  grasp  of  the  concrete  problem  itself. 
Not  so  with  Mr.  McKay;  he  eagerly  followed  him  in  his  scientific 
and  practical  quests  and  showed  an  inspiring  faith  in  his  fore- 
casting power  as  well  as  in  his  capacity  to  meet  the  unforseenable  dif- 
ficulty. But  aside  from  the  advice  which  Mr.  McKay  asked  in  min- 
ing matters,  he  especially  sought  Mr.  Shaler's  counsel  with,  ref- 
erence to  the  best  uses  of  money  intended  for  the  public  good,  and 
particularly  the  conditions  of  his  own  proposed  bequests  were  the 
subject  of  continuous  discussion.  So  far  from  having  a  predilec- 
tion for  the  College,  he  began  with  a  serious  dislike,  which  it  was 
Mr.  Shaler's  special  task  to  overcome.  Mr.  McKay,  however,  did 
believe  very  firmly  that  the  men  whose  work  tended  toward  ap- 
plied science  had  better  be  educated  with  those  trained  in  the  liberal 
arts.  This  conviction  remained  fixed  in  his  mind  until,  the  time  came 
to  make  his  final  decision.  After  1891  there  was  no  longer  a  shadow 
of  doubt  as  to  the  destination  of  his  fortune,  and  he  always  al- 
luded to  Mr.  Shaler  as  the  one  person  of  all  others  whom  he 
looked  to  for  the  carrying  out  of  his  wishes. 


10 

Conrey  Placer  Mining  Co. 

As  a  practical  miner,  engineer,  promoter,  and  administrat- 
or, Mr.  Shaler  has  done  much  for  Harvard  through  his  con- 
nection with  the  Conrey  Placer  Mining  Co.,  of  which  he 
was  president  and  chief  factor  from  its  inception  to  the 
time  of  his  death. 

The  Conrey  Placer  Mining  Co.  is  a  gold-dredging  com- 
pany in  Ruby,  Montana,  which  started  in  1898,  before  large 
dredging  was  done  in  California.  It  was  a  pioneer  in  the 
size  of  the  dredging  machinery  employed. 

Gordon  McKay  largely  financed  the  company  in  the  ini- 
tial stages ;  thus  his  estate,  and  eventually  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, became  the  chief  owner.  Mr.  McKay  took  a  deep  in- 
terest in  the  details  of  the  work,  visited  Montana  with  Mr. 
Shaler,  and  invented  a  centrifugal  pump  for  one  of  the 
dredges  which  did,  and  is  still  doing,  most  excellent  work. 

The  initial  mistakes  and  troubles  incident  to  pioneer  work 
had  been  very  largely  overcome  and  the  venture  put  in  a 
sound  condition  for  future  profits  at  the -time  of  Mr.  Sha- 
ler's'  death,  thanks  to  his  vision,  tenacity,  and  faith,  and  his 
power  of  infusing  in  others,  especially  Mr.  McKay  and  his 
trustees,  sufficiency  of  faith  to  stand  crucial  money  tests. 

The  Conrey  Co.,  of  which  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
Treasurer  of  Harvard  University,  is  now  president,  is  still 
working;  its  profits  have  enlarged  the  McKay  trust  by 
considerably  over  a  million  dollars.  This  mining  venture 
is  scientifically  interesting  in  its  details  to  the  gold-dredging 
industry;  it  was  courageously  planned  and  wholesomely 
financed. 

A  full  description  of  the  operations  of  this  mining  com- 


II 

pany  can  be  found  in  Bulletin  121  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines, 
"The  History  and  Development  of  Gold  Dredging  in  Mon- 
tana," by  the  writer. 

Court  Proceedings. 

The  "Proceedings"  of  the  Massachusetts  Supreme  Judi- 
cial Court  in  the 'test  case  as  to  the  legality  of  the  Har- 
vard and  Institute  of  Technology  amalgamation,  were 
printed  some  time  before  the  decision,  November  27,  1917, 
in  the  case  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege vs.  The  Attorney-General  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts.  The  Court  gave  judgment  that  the  agree- 
ment entered  into  between  Harvard  and  the  Institute  was 
not  in  accord  with  the  provisions  of  the  will  of  Mr.  McKay. 

In  the  printed  "Proceedings,"  the  testimony,  letters,  and 
appended  documents  are  most  interesting  and  instructive  in 
that  they  give  the  main  features  of  the  McKay  Endowment, 
much  history  of  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  and  the 
Graduate  School  of  Applied  Science,  also  "An  Account  of 
the  Gordon  McKay  Trust,"  written  by  Mr.  Shaler  shortly 
before  his  death,  and  a  variety  of  statistics  and  educational 
views  given  by  such  great  educational  authorities  as  Presi- 
dents Eliot,  Lowell  and  Maclaurin. 

As  comparatively  few  of  the  alumni  of  Harvard  have  had 
opportunity  of  hearing  or  reading  these  "Proceedings,"  it  is 
necessary,  in  order  to  make  clear  the  meaning  and  nature 
of  the  McKay  Endowment,  to  give  liberal  quotation  and 
reference. 

Mr.  Shaler's  account  of  the  origin  of  the  McKay  Endow- 


12 


ment  is  full  of  interest,  but  it  is  too  long  to  quote  fully.  The 
following,  however,  ("Proceedings",  page  229),  seems  a 
fair  epitome : 

During  the  various  stages  in  the  discussion  and  growth  of  the 
project,  which  resulted  in.  his  will  and  trust,  I  was  much  with  Mr. 
McKay  on  long  journeys,  while  I  served  him  in  a  friendly  way  as 
a  mining  engineer.  While  thus  occupied  we  were  together  in  the 
field  for  many  months.  He  was  satisfied  with  the  service  he  had 
with  me,  and  chose  to  regard  my  training  as  about  what  he  wished 
to  have  for  the  youths  who  were  to  be  educated  by  his  trust.  He 
knew  how  my  education  had  combined  training  in  the  exact  sciences 
with  liberal  culture  in  the  atmosphere  of  Harvard  University,  and 
he  often  told  me  that  he  saw  the  profit  of  the  combination. 

From  this  account,  no  matter  how  much  one  believed  in 
the  wisdom  of  the  merger,  the  equity  of  the  Court's  decision 
certainly  is  made  clear. 

Mr.  Shaler  laid  no  claim  to  dominating,  dictating,  or  con- 
trolling the  McKay  bequest,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  he 
was  the  inspiration  of  it,  guided  some  of  the  details,  and 
was  sympathetic  with  it  all. 

His  life  and  accomplishments  indicate  that  the  soul,  brain, 
and  character  of  the  teacher  count  more,  in  the  uplift  and 
other  benefits  to  the  student  that  an  institution  of  learning 
can  give,  than  any  brick,  motar,  housing,  or  perfection  of 
equipment. 

For  right  comprehension  and  intelligent  suggestion,  some 
of  the  main  facts  and  principles  of  technical  education  as 
given  at  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  the  Graduate  School 
of  Applied  Science,  and  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  should  be  clearly  understood,  and  they  can  be 


13 

largely  obtained  from  the  reports,  letters,  facts,  and  opinions 
set  forth  in  the  "Proceedings." 

Lawrence  Scientific  School. 

The  Lawrence  Scientific  School  was  founded  in  1847,  sec- 
ond in  priority  of  the  technical  schools  in  this  country; 
the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  School,  founded  in  1824,  was 
first.  The  Sheffield  Scientific  School  was  third,  1847;  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  1861 ;  the  Columbia 
School  of  Mines,  1864. 

President  Eliot,  ("Proceedings",  page  68),  in  connection 
with  the  early  organization  of  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School,  states : 

The  students  consisted  mostly  of  what  we  nowadays  call  special 
students,  or  unattached.  It  had  no  organized  program  of  instruc- 
tion. It  consisted  of  these  three  detached  units,  and  was,  of  course, 
feeble  in  all  respects.  Nevertheless,  it  graduated  an  extraordinary 
number  of  men  who  turned  out  in  later  life  to  be  singularly  suc- 
cessful. 

Some  explanation  of  the  success  of  students  may  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  among  the  early  technical  teachers 
such  names  appear,  as,  Louis  Agassiz,  Benjamin  Peirce,  Jo- 
siah  P.  Cooke,  Eben  N.  Horsford,  Asa  Gray,  T.  Sterry 
Hunt,  Jeffiries  Wyman,  Joseph  Lovering,  J.  D.  Whitney, 
and  Nathaniel  Southgate  Shaler. 

In  1877  the  number  of  students  in  the  Lawrence  Scien- 
tific School  amounted  to  no  more  than  34.  The  courses 
were  disjointed,  but  excellent  in  spots,  the  students  were 
made  to  work  for  their  degree,  and  thus  obtained  mental 
drill.  As  a  whole,  there  was  great  aloofness  between  the 


14 

scientific  and  academic  students,  but  even  so,  some  warm 
friendships  were  often  made. 

The  School  further  dwindled  until  1885,  when  Dean 
Chaplin  took  charge;  the  student  enrollment  was  then  only 
16.  From  this  time  on  it  took  a  new  lease  of  life,  the 
courses  of  instruction  were  improved  and  readjusted,  the 
teaching  staff  was  augmented,  and  the  work  and  the  stu- 
dent more  woven  into  that  of  the  College. 

Mr.  Shaler  became  dean  in  1891,  at  which  time  the  num- 
ber of  students  had  increased  to  88.  In  his  first  report, 
1891-1892,  ("Proceedings",  pages  213,  214),  Dean  Shaler 
states : 

The  remarkable  increase  in  the  attendance  at  the  Lawrence  Sci- 
entific School  which  has  taken  place  in  the  last  five  years,  appears 
to  be  in  the  niain  due  to  a  more  widely  disseminated  knowledge  of 
the  advantages  which  it  can  afford  students  who  wish  to  combine  a 
measure  of  academic  culture  with  a  training  in  some  branch  of  sci- 
ence which  will  serve  as  the  foundation  for  a  career.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  a  valuable  element  in  the  policy  of  the  School  that  spe- 
cial effort  is  made  to  adapt  the  instruction  to  the  needs  of  the 
individual  student,  and  at  the  end  of  the  course  to  place  him  in  a 
suituation  suited  to  his  capabilities  and  training. 

The  vigor  and  success  with  which  Shaler  developed  this 
policy  and  further  enlarged  it  while  dean  is  mirrored  in  the 
fact  that  the  number  of  students  before  his  death  increased 
to  over  500,  of  which  270  were  in  the  Department  of  Engi- 
neering. 

The  students  of  the  Scientific  School  had  access  to  the 
chemical,,  physical  and  biological  laboratories  of  the  Uni- 
versity, and  special  laboratories  and  plants  were  provided 


for  students  of  applied  science,  the  cost  of  which,  President 
Lowell  stated  at  the  time  of  the  merger,  was  about  $365,000. 
This  sum,  however,  does  not  apply  to  the  main  laboratory 
equipments  of  the  University,  as  Dean  Shaler  in  his  report 
from  1893-1894,  ("Proceedings",  page  217),  states: 

Since  the  foundation  of  technical  schools  in  the  United  States 
the  very  rapid  extension  of  the  elective  system  in  the  greater 
colleges  has  altogether  changed  their  attitude  towards  professional 
education. 

Moreover,  the  elective  system  has  made  it  necessary  for  the  Col- 
lege to  create,  at  a  great  cost,  a  number  of  laboratories  and  other 
means  of  scientific  research,  all  of  which  are  suited  to  the  needs  of 
applied  science.  The  development  of  these  establishments  for  prac- 
tical enquiry,  with  their  associated  museums,  has  gone  so  far  that 
in  this  University  they  represent  an  aggregate  investment  of  about 
$4,000,000*.  Similar  changes  have  taken  place  in  all  the  stronger 
universities  of  this  country. 

Further,  in  regard  to  laboratories,  Dean  Shaler's  report 
for  1898-1899,  ("Proceedings",  page  221),  gives  the  follow- 
ing: 

It  may  be  well  to  note  that  in  the  project  for  the  laboratories  in 
mining  and  metallurgy  it  is  not  proposed  to  do  more  than  illustrate 
the  principles  involved  in  the  various  methods  of  treating  ores. 
Thus,  while  the  establishment  is  to  include  the  usual  tools,  stamps, 
vats  and  so  forth,  so  that  samples  may  be  passed  through  the  series 
of  operations  and  the  theory  of  these  processes  thereby  made 
clear,  the  aim  will  be  to  limit  the  work  strictly  to  this  purpose 
of  illustration  and  experiment.  Those  who  have  charge  of  instruc- 
tion in  this  department  believe  that  little  relating  to  the  craft  of  this 
and  other  technical  arts,  can  or  should  be  taught  in  a  school;  the 


*No  doubt  in  this  estimate  the  Agassiz  Museum  is  included. 


i6 


technique  is  profitably  learned  in  those  places  only  where  the  work 
is  conducted  with  a  view  to  profit.  Therefore  the  students  in  this 
department  are  required  to  spend  the  larger  part  of  one  of  their 
long  vacations  in  mines  and  metallurgical  works,  where  they  may 
observe  the  economic  application  of  methods  with  which  they  have 
become  familiar  in  the  laboratofy. 

The  following  quotation  from  President  Eliot's  report  for 
1889-1890  ("Proceedings",  pages  210,  211),  throw  addi- 
tional light  on  the  accomplishments  at  the  Lawrence  Scien- 
tific School : 

The  Lawrence  Scientific  School  has  within  three  years  so  add- 
ed to  its  numbers  that  it  is  larger  in  the  current  year  than  it  has 
ever  been  before,  since  its  foundation  in  1847.  The  number  of 
students  was  35  in  1888-89;  65  in  1889-90  and  88  in  1890-91,  the 
numbers  being  those  given  in  the  annual  catalogues,  and  being 
therefore  a  little  below  the  numbers  annually  reported  by  the 
Dean.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  growth  will  continue. 
The  five  courses  of  instruction  which  lead  to  the  degree  of  B.S. 
are  all  thorough  and  well-arranged ;  the  admission-examination  is 
within  the  capacity  of  any  graduate  of  a  good  high  school;  and 
through  the  intimate  association  of  the  School  with  the  College  its 
students  enjoy  all  the  privileges  in  Cambridge  which  College  stu- 
dents enjoy. 

In  his  report  for  1897-1898  ("Proceedings",  page  219), 
the  social  relationships  of  the  students  are  set  forth  as 
follows : 

The  status  of  the  scientific  student  in  Cambridge  has  completely 
changed  within  ten  years;  he  is  no  longer  an  outsider,  but 
a  comrade  and  equal  of  the  College  student  in  every  respect.  He 
has  the  same  rights  in  the  same  buildings  and  associations,  is  eli- 


I? 

gible  to  the  same  clubs,  teams,  and  crews,  shares  with  the  candi- 
didates  for  the  A.B.  the  delights  and  charges  of  Class  Day,  and 
graduates  on  the  same  day  after  the  same  period  of  residence.  In 
proportion  to  its  numbers,  the  Scientific  School  furnishes  more 
members  of  the  principal  athletic  teams  than  the  College  does ;  and 
last  spring  more  undergraduates,  in  proportion  to  its  number  of 
students,  enlisted  in  the  army  or  navy  from  the  Scientific  School 
than  from  the  College.  '•  . 


Graduate  School  of  Applied  Science. 

President  Eliot  gives  an  outline  of  the  birth  of  the  Grad- 
uate School  of  Applied  Science,  pages  109,  no,  of  the  "Pro- 
ceedings", as  follows : 

The  establishment  of  the  Graduate  School  of  Applied  Science  was 
a  step  in  a  long  process  which  had  been  going  on  for  nearly  forty 
years.  It  began  when  I  became  president  of-  Harvard  Univer- 
sity. That  process  was  the  giving  of  all  the  preliminary  and  ele- 
mentary instruction  in  what  we  may  call  the  applied  sciences,  not  in 
a  separate  school  called  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  but  to 
young  men  entering  upon  the  full  elective  privileges  of  Harvard 
College,  with  a  requirement  for  admissions  somewhat  lower  than 
those  which  lead  into  Harvard  College.  There  developed  with  that 
policy  certain  prescribed  programmes  of  instruction  in  all  the 
different  branches  of  applied  or  industrial  science,  such  as  mechani- 
cal engineering,  civil  engineering,  electrical  engineering,  mining  en- 
gineering. Those  programmes  of  study  were  carried  out  at  first 
by  students  registered  in  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  but  later 
by  students  registered  in  Harvard  College;  and  the  great  growth  of 
the  school  was  due  to  the  institution  of  these  programmes  for  pre- 
paring engineers,  chemists,  miners,  etc.,  which  could  be  carried  out 
by  the  student  in  Harvard  College,  simply  be  availing  himself  of 
the  broad  election  of  studies  which  is  there  offered. 


i8 

Presidents  Eliot,    Lowell,    and   Maclaurin. 

President  Eliot  testified  that  he  became  president  of  Har- 
vard University  in  1869,  prior  to  which  he  had  been  tutor 
and  assistant  professor  at  Harvard  for  nine  years;  that  he 
was  connected  also  with  the  Institute  of  Technology  the  first 
year  of  its  organization  and  was  a  member  of  that  Faculty 
for  four  years.  He  was  president  of  Harvard  for  forty 
years. 

President  Lowell  testified  that  before  he  became  president 
in  1909  he  had  been  a  professor  at  Harvard  since  1900,  and 
a  lecturer  for  three  or  four  years  previously.  He  stated 
that  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  Corporation  of  the  Insti- 
tute of  Technology  since  1890  and  a  member  of  its  Execu- 
tive Committee  for  four. years,  and  was  one  of  two  mem- 
bers appointed  from  1903  to  1905  by  the  Institute  to  nego- 
tiate with  Harvard  as  to  a  union  of  the  two  institutions. 

He  stated  that  in  1909,  there  were  only  36  students  of  the 
Graduate  School  of  Applied  Science  in  the  departments  that 
were  merged  with  the  Institute  of  Technology,  but  that  at 
the  time  of  the  merger  (in  1915)  there  were  53  students. 
He  evidently  was  of  the  belief  that  there  was  no  tendency 
towards  any  great  increase  in  student  material  either  in  num- 
ber or  in  quality. 

He  expressed  a  belief  in  the  advantage  of  large  numbers 
of  students  rather  than  small,  on  grounds  of  both  education- 
al value  and  economy,  but  made  the  statement,  "The  value 
,of  education  comes  quite  as  much  from  one's  fellow-stu- 
dents as  from  the  instructors,  and  a  certain  sized  body  of 
students  is  essential  for  the  best  results." 

Dr.  R.  C.  Maclaurin  testified  that  he  had  been  president 


19 

of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  since  1909; 
had  graduated  at  the  University  of  Cambridge,  England; 
had  received  educational  training  in  Scotland,  New  Zealand, 
and  Canada;  and  also,  had  been  a  professor  at  Columbia 
University  in  this  country. 

In  his  testimony  he  gave  but  meager  information  as  to 
the  theoretical  nature  of  the  courses  given  at  the  Institute, 
no  doubt  feeling  satisfied  that  they  were  sufficiently  set 
forth  in  the  printed  literature  concerning  the  Institute.  Cer- 
tainly its  "Bulletin"  for  1916  assures  its  students  of  com- 
prehensive, technical  education. 

He  dwelt  on  the  importance  of  student  numbers  and  the 
advantages  of  laboratory  equipment.  In  number  of  stu- 
dents pursuing  courses  in  branches  of  engineering,  he 
ranked  the  Institute  with  Cornell  and  Michigan,  each  having 
over  1,000  students. 

Universities  and  institutes  giving  instruction  in  these 
branches  and  which  numbered  between  1,000  and  500  stu- 
dents, he  placed  in  numerical  importance,  as  follows :  Illi- 
nois, Purdue,  Pennsylvania,  California,  Wisconsin,  Rens- 
salaer,  University  of  Pennsylvania,  Stevens  Institute,  and 
Missouri. 

Between  300  and  200,  he  gave :  Columbia,  Princeton,  and 
Johns  Hopkins. 

Further,  he  stated :  "The  Sheffield  Scientific  School  .  .  . 
is  a  little  less  than  400." 

The  four  great  universities  of  the  country, — Harvard, 
Yale,  Princeton  and  Columbia, — he  placed  at  the  foot  of  the 
list. 

He  showed  that  the  Institute  of  Technology  had  splendid 


2O 


new  buildings,  costing  about  $4,530,000,  with  generous  new 
equipment,  costing  $840,000,  totalling  over  $5,300,000;  that 
the  endowment  of  the  Institute  amounted  to  $9,500,000; 
that  it  enjoyed  from  the  state  and  federal  governments  an 
annual  grant  of  $122,000;  and  received  from  students  an 
income  of  $500,000. 

He  indicated  that  the  upkeep  of  the  joint  school  with 
Harvard  was  $628,000  per  annum,  of  which  Harvard  would 
pay  $100,000 ;  and  that  the  total  expenditure  of  the  Insti- 
tute amounted  to  $1,043,3000. 

In  connection  with  the  yearly  grants  to  state  universities, 
he  made  the  interesting  statement  that  California  received 
$3,742,000,  Wisconsin  $3,094,000,  and  Illinois  $2,845,000. 

From  the  Harvard  Treasurer's  report  for  the  year  ended 
June  30,  1917,  it  appeared  that  the  total  funds  and  gifts 
in  the  hands  of  the  President,  Fellows  and  Treasurer  were 
$32,436,394.34,  which,  at  five  per  cent,  per  annum,  would 
yield  about  $1,621,819.72  in  interest.  The  general  sum- 
mary given  in  the  Harvard  Catalogue  for  1915-16,  pages 
280-281,  gives  the  total  enrollment  of  students  in  the  Uni- 
versity proper  as  5,226,  while,  including  university  exten- 
sion and  small  schools,  the  total  amounted  to  6,306.  The 
number  of  teachers,  officers,  and  other  employees  connect- 
ed with  the  University  was  listed  at  1,076. 

Endowment  Fund. 

The  Harvard  McKay  Endowment  Fund  has  been  built 
up  gradually  from  the  income  of  the  McKay  estate,  and 
will  continue  to  increase  until  the  last  annuitant  of  the  es- 


21 

tate  dies;  in  the  meantime,  the  management  of  these  funds 
will  rest  entirely  in  the  hands  of  its  trustees. 

No  opportunity  was  given  Harvard  University  to  ex- 
pend any  portion  of  the  bequest  until  eighty  per  cent, 
of  the  accumulated  income  from  the  McKay  estate  had 
amounted  to  $1,000,000,  when  it  was  to  be  turned  over  to 
the  University.  This  was  done  in  1909,  but  even  thereaf- 
ter only  the  income  from  the  fund  could  be  made  use  of; 
each  year  the  Endowment  Fund  was  to  be  enlarged  by  eighty 
per  cent,  of  the  income  receipts  obtained  by  the  trustees 
and  by  them  turned  over. 

In  this  way,  up  to  January,  1917,  Harvard  had  received 
$2,247,261,  and  a  valuation  of  the  capital  fund  then  in  the 
hands  of  the  trustees  amounted  to  $5,324,973. 

Mr.  Howard  Stockton,  actuary,  ("Proceedings",  pages 
180-181),  made  an  estimate  based  on  the  probability  of 
the  last  annuitant  dying  before  1956,  in  which  case,  at  that 
date  the  fund,  allowing  interest  at  4^  per  cent.,  should 
amount  to : 

Total  to  Harvard  of  80%  payments,  $9,244,561.12 

Total  of  20%  Reserve  Fund,  8,379,365.00 

Capital  Fund,  5,324,973-o8 


Total,  $22,948,899.20 

The    main    provisions    of    the    Endowment,    ("Proceed- 
ings", pages  5,  6),  are  here  given: 

The  net  income  of  said  Endowment  shall  be  used  to  promote  ap- 
plied science : 

First.    By  maintaining  professorships,  workshops,  laboratories  and 


collections  for  any  or  all  of  those  scientific  subjects,  which  have,  or 
may  hereafter  have,  applications  useful  to  man  and 

Second.  By  aiding  meritorious  and  needy  students  in  pursuing 
those  subjects. 

Inasmuch  as  a  large  part  of  my  life  has  been  devoted  to  the 
study  and  invention  of  machinery,  I  instruct  the  President  and  Fel- 
lows to  take  special  care  that  the  great  subject  of  mechanical  en- 
gineering in  all  its  branches  and  in  the  most  comprehensive  sense, 
be  thoroughly  provided  for  from  my  Endowment. 

I  direct  that  the  President  and  Fellows  be  free  to  provide  from 
the  Endowment  all  grades  of  instruction  in  applied  science,  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest,  and  that  the  instruction  provided  be  kept 
accessible  to  pupils  who  have  had  no  other  opportunities  of  previ- 
ous education  than  those  which  the  free  public  schools  afford. 

I  direct  that  the  salaries  attached  to  the  professorships  maintained 
from  the  Endowment  be  kept  liberal,  generation  after  generation, 
according  to  the  standards  of  each  successive  generation, 
to  the  end  that  these  professorships  may  always  be  attractive  to  able 
men  and  that  their  effect  may  be  to  raise,  in  some  judicious  meas- 
ure, the  general  scale  of  compensation  for  the  teachers  of  the  Uni- 
versity. 

I  direct  that  the  professors  supported  frx>m  this  Endowment  be 
provided  with  suitable  assistance  in  their  several  departments  by 
the  appointment  of  instructors  of  lower  grades,  and  of  draughts- 
men, foremen,  mechanics,  clerks  or  assistants,  as  occasion  may  re- 
quire, my  desire  being  that  the  professors  be  free  to  devote  them- 
selves to  whatever  part  of  the  teaching  requires  the  greatest  skill 
and  largest  experience,  and  to  the  advancement  of  their  several 
subjects. 

I  direct  that  the  President  and  Fellows  be  free  to  erect  buildings 
for  the  purposes  of  this  Endowment,  and  to  purchase  sites  for  the 
same,  but  only  from  the  income  of  the  Endowment. 

I  direct  that  all  the  equipment  required  to  illustrate  teaching  or  to 
give  students  opportunity  to  practice,  whether  instruments,  diagrams, 
tools,  machines  or  apparatus,  be  always  kept  of  the  best  design  and 


23 

•quality,,  so  that  no  antiquated,  superseded,  or  unserviceable  imple- 
ment or  machinery  shall  ever  be  retained  in  the  lecture  rooms, 
workshops  or  laboratories  maintained  from  the  Endowment. 

Finally,  I  request  that  the  name  Gordon  McKay  be  permanently 
attached  to  the  professorships,  buildings,  and  scholarships  or  other 
aids  for  needy  students,  which  may  be  established,  erected  or  main- 
tained from  the  income  of  this  Endowment. 

Should  the  said  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  College  fail 
to  accept  (in  writing)  the  above  Endowment  upon  the  terms  and 
provisions  above  set  forth  within  two  years  after  my  death,  I  then 
give  said  accumulations  and  said  residue  to  my  trustees  hereunder 
and  their  successors,  in  trust  to  apply  the  same  to  the  purposes 
above  set  forth. 


Discussion. 

Harvard  College,  founded  in  1636,  is  the  oldest  in  the 
country.  It  was  the  first  to  start  the  experiment  of-  link- 
ing up  applied  science  with  its  other  university  courses. 

The  older  a  university  is,  the  less  was  science  known  and 
appreciated  at  the  time  of  its  founding  and  the  more 
its  ideals  and  methods  conformed  to  church  and  medieval 
instruction.  Thus  the  incorporation  of  scientific  training 
at  Harvard  was  more  difficult  than  its  adoption  by  a  younger 
institution.  The  Harvard  motto,  "Christo  et  Ecclesise,"  fos- 
tered the  belief  that  truth  and  God  could  be  obtained  only 
from  within  and  that  true  religion  was  the  highest  outcome. 

Modern  science  asserts  that  truth  and  God  can  best  be 
found  from  without,  by  rightly  unsealing,  unfolding,  and 
reading  the  leaves  of  God  in  nature.  This,  when  done  in 
lofty  spirit,  is  the  highest  definition  of  science — both  pure 


24 

and  applied.  It  would  appear  in  this  age  that  we  must 
have  both  religion  and  science  to  guard  and  uphold  worth- 
ily our  motto  "Veritas,"  and  the  more  intimately  and  har- 
moniously they  are  linked  together  the  safer  is  the  premier- 
ship of  our  University. 

President  Eliot  had  a  very  hard  task  and  struggled  for 
forty  years  to  find  a  way  to  get  Harvard  to  incorporate  ap- 
plied science  into  its  being.  Though  the  Lawrence  Scien- 
tific School  started  with  brilliancy  by  the  prophetic  finger- 
pointings  of  Benjamin  Peirce,  Louis  Agassiz,  and  other 
great  instructors,  they  gave  no  accurate  charts  of  guidance 
and  it  soon  sadly  languished.  President  Eliot  did  not  give 
up  the  struggle  but  called  to  his  aid  Dean  Shaler,  who 
was  a  great  humanist  as  well  as  a  brilliant  and  inspiring 
lecturer,  and  success  seemed  imminent  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

After  Mr.  Shaler's  death,  the  pathways  became  confused. 
The  one  leading  to  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technolo- 
gy seemed  the  broadest,  easiest,  and  most  desirable,  but 
through  the  court  decision,  it  ended  only  in  a  cul  de  sac. 

The  financial  possibilities  of  the  McKay  Endowment  have 
been  set  forth,  and  they  are  such  that  in  a  material  way  it 
is  wise  for  Harvard  to  obtain  them,  but  her  "Veritas"  de- 
mands that  she  should  earn  them. 

The  conditions  of  the  Endowment  at  first  sight  are  be- 
wildering, for  they  do  not  include  in  their  equations  of  direc- 
tion specific  constants  of  time  or  dimensions.  However, 
this  is  more  subtly  taken  care  .of  by  the  snowball  growth  of 
the  Endowment  Fund  than  is  at  first  obvious,  for,  while 
the  directions  give  extreme  latitude  in  detail  to  the  execu- 


tives  at  Harvard,  it  limits  them  by  placing  automatic  appro- 
priation in  the  hands  of  the  McKay  trustees. 

The  waste  that  might  be  incident  to  duplication  of  effort 
in  technical  training  by  two  great  institutions  so  closely  lo- 
cated as  Harvard  and  Tech.,  is  better  taken  care  of  by  the 
bequest  than  is  generally  supposed,  as  the  very  terms  of 
the  Endowment  prohibit  wasteful  immediate  competition  in 
brick  and  mortar,  or  student  numbers,  and  there  would  at 
this  time  seem  great  need  for  both. 

President  Maclaurin  fortifies  the  above  statement  in  his 
report,  "Bulletin,"  1915-16,  as  follows: 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  Institute  in  recent  years  makes  it  clear 
that  our  new  buildings  are  none  too  large  and  that  in  several  de- 
partments we  shall  soon  have  to  face  the  problem. 

For  many  years  there  has  been  a  steady  growth  in  the  number 
of  students  coming  to  the  Institute  from  the  colleges.  This  year 
there  were  more  than  17%  who  were  graduates  of  colleges,  the 
corresponding  number  last  year  being  290,  and  the  number  of 
students  who  have  spent  one  or  more  years  at  some  college  before 
entering,  559. 

In  this  "Bulletin"  the  number  of  students  in  the  different 
courses  at  the  Institute  are  given.  About  twenty  courses 
are  enumerated.  Mechanical  engineering  heads  the  list  with 
279  students ;  electrical  engineering  is  second  with  235  ;  civil 
engineering  is  next  with  188;  and  chemical  engineering  with 
157.  No  instruction  is  given  in  the  classics,  but  there  are 
courses  in  English  and  other  modern  languages,  and  also 
political  economy. 

It  is  evident  that  Mr.  McKay  believed  in  making  haste 
slowly,  and  desired  that  the  accomplishment  of  his  objects 


26 


should  come  by  degrees,  rather  than  by  leaps.  He  was 
not  impressed  by  mere  mass-showings  of  students  or  by 
grandeur  or  magnitude  of  architecture  to  make  the  world 
appreciate  immediately  his  gift.  He  was  free  enough  from 
vanity  and  big  enough  to  wait,  and  let  time  give  the  verdict 
as  to  his  wisdom. 

Does  it  not  appear  that  democracy  is  now  -in  danger  of 
over-worshipping  the  power  and  might  of  mere  numbers 
in  its  voting  units,  irrespective  of  quality  or  their  truthful- 
ness ? 

It  would  seem  that  Mr.  McKay  with  his  money  and  Pro- 
fessor Shaler  in  his  teachings  had  other  thoughts  in  view 
than  the  wholesale  training  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  engi- 
neer technicians,  which  is  being  done  so  well  at  the  Insti- 
tute and  other  technical  schools  of  the  country. 

They  evidently  desired  to  attract  to  Harvard  future  lead- 
ers and  uplifters  of  science  and  engineering,  and  to  give 
them  a  better  chance  to  take  their  proper  places  and  have 
the  importance  of  their  work  better  understood  in  the  world ; 
they  aimed  for  quality,  not  numbers,  and  desired  for  their 
students  the  broadening  and  mellowing  influence  of  the  fine 
arts.  The  contact  and  social  companionship  with 'the  future 
choice  spirits  in  other  professions  at  the  most  formative 
period  of  life,  they  believed,  would  make  their  students  bet- 
ter able  to  hold  their  own  among  men. 

No  doubt  they  also  held  the  vision  that  the  highest 
representatives  of  science — both  pure  and  applied — could 
demonstrate  to  the  world  not  only  the  exceeding  might  of 
their  calling,  but  also  its  truth  and  beauty. 

Most  of  the  provisions  of  the  bequest  are  easy  to  carry 


27 

out,  as  great  latitude  is  given  in  details,  and  all  of  them  seem 
to  the  writer  possible  and  desirable  if  undertaken  in  a  sym- 
pathetic, believing,  willing  spirit.  At  first  it  was  thought 
that  a  serious  stumbling-block  in  the  way  was  the  direction 
that  courses  should  be  kept  accessible  to  students  who  had  no 
other  opportunities  of  previous  education  than  those  which 
the  free  public  schools  afford.  *  This  does  not  seem  insur- 
mountable since  the  Boston, high  schools  send  their  grad- 
uates direct  to  Harvard,  and  it  would  also  appear  that  one 
of  the  great  advantages  of  the  Freshman  Dormitories  at 
Harvard  is  that  it  permits  students  to  enter  the  University 
earlier  and  get  through  the  college  and  professional  train- 
ing, as  well  as  to  mix  intimately  together,  before  they  are 
overtrained  and  stale  for  the  race  of  life  ahead  of  them. 

It  would  seem  that  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  immediate 
erection  of  buildings  with  the  interest  of  the  funds  from 
the  Endowment  if  the  buildings  bear  the  name  of  Gordon 
McKay.  A  certain  amount  of  such  construction  appears 
desirable  and  permissible  by  borrowing  money  for  this  pur- 
pose and  by  paying  the  interest  and  sinking  funds  on  such 
loans  from  the  interest  of  the  Endowment  Fund.  This 
right,  however,  should  in  fairness  be  only  moderately  exer- 
cised. 

The  instructions  as  to  equipment  are  more  specific,  but 
still  general.  They  state  that  such  equipment  employed 
should  be  up-to-date  and  best  of  its  kind.  It  would  appear 
that  Professor  Shaler  meets  this  difficulty  in  the  quotation 
given  on  page  15  regarding  laboratories. 

Especially  interesting  is  his  statement  as  to  the  desirabil- 
ity of  mixing  laboratory  equipment  and  practical  study  with 


28 


up-to-date  practice  in  the  mine,  shop,  metallurgical  works, 
etc.  With  this  I  am  in  thorough  accord,  if  the  necessary 
arrangements  can  be  made  with  the  managers  of  the  works 
to  have  it  carried  out. 

The  engineer  is  the  closest  connecting  link  between  cap- 
ital and  labor  in  any  employment,  and  he  should  thus  know 
and  be  sympathetic  with  both.  In  student  days  he  is  given 
his  only  opportunity  of  being  a  fellow-laborer,  as  after- 
wards he  develops  from  a  small  to  a  big  boss. 

The  clause  reading, 

Inasmuch  as  a  large  part  of  my  life  has  been  devoted  to  the 
study  and  invention  of  machinery,  I  instruct  the  President  and  Fel- 
lows to  take  special  care  that  the  great  subject  of  mechanical  engi- 
neering in  all  its  branches  and  in  the  most  comprehensive  sense,  be 
thoroughly  provided  for  from  my  Endowment, 

would  seem  to  propose  what  is  most  desirable  not  only  for 
the  student  but  for  Harvard  University  itself.  In  fact, 
Mr.  McKay  was  prophetic  in  his  estimation  of  the  impor- 
tance of  mechanical  engineering.  Its  scope  and  meaning 
are  greater  than  is  at  first  apparent,  for,  taken  in  its  most 
comprehensive  sense,  mechanical  engineering  demands,  of 
its  leaders  sound,  if  not  thorough,  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  civil,  mining,  electrical,  in  fact,  almost  all  other 
branches  of  engineering,  for  they  are  now  so  closely  allied 
arid  interdependent  that  they  must  do  team-work  in  order 
to  be  effective. 

In  the  court  proceedings  it  was  implied,  if  not  openly  stat- 
ed, that  the  student  material  entering  the  Scientific,  School 
at  Harvard  was  not  equal  in  quality  to  that  going  to  the 


29 

College,  and  that  some  very  dull  and  undesirable  units 
gained  admission  to  the  College  by  this  door. 

It  would  seem  that  the  McKay  bequest  greatly  aids  this 
aspect  of  the  problem  by  its  provision  for  scholarships  and 
for  adequate  salaries  to  the  teachers.  They  can  be  made 
prizes  of  merit  as  well  as  need,  and  helpful  in  establishing 
in  the  future  Scientific  School  a  corps  d' elite,  which  Profes- 
sor Henderson  so  happily  recommends.  Mr.  McKay  in  no 
way  aimed  to  aid  merely  the  mediocre,  though  worthy,  stu- 
dent without  talent  or  funds,  but  quite  the  reverse;  the 
bequest  shows  his  desire  to  have  the  school  enfold  and  train 
leaders  of  future  engineering  thought  and  action.  Scholar- 
ships to  students  and  high  salaries  to  professors  and  teach- 
ers should  be  regarded  as  paving  the  way  to  the  enrollment 
of  the  higher  class  of  students,  as  well  as  teachers.  For  the 
student,  it  takes  away  the  barrier  of  poverty,  if  desire  and 
talent  are  great,  while  to  the  best  teachers,  it  allows  ade- 
quate money  reward.  There  is  no  intimation  that  the  students 
who  can  afford  to  do  so  should  not  pay  for  their  privileges. 

The  new  Harvard  scientific  school,  while  not  making 
claim  to  great  numbers,  should  do  everything  to  be  classed 
as  a  corps  d' elite.  It  certainly  will  have  money  enough  for 
the  experiment.  It  should  be  made  a  great  privilege  to  en- 
ter the  School,  obtainable  only  by  competitive  examination. 
In  the  entrance  examinations  the  number  of  subjects  need 
not  be  many,  but  thoroughness  in  those  demanded  should 
be  insisted  upon. 

Only  a  limited  number  of  students  should  be  taken  at 
first,  and  their  number  should  be  increased  as  funds  become 
available.  It  would  seem  desirable  that  the  highest  salaries 


30 

should  be  paid  professors  in  the  freshman  and  sophomore 
years,  who  should  be  selected  from  among  men  of  high 
scholarship,  supplemented  with  practical  accomplishment 
and  knowledge  of  men.  They  should  have  the  power  of 
creating  a  thirst  for  knowledge  and  laying  foundations  by 
making  clear  and  interesting  the  simple  and  seemingly  ob- 
vious. Erudite  refinements  should  come  later. 

You  can  take  a  horse  to  water,  or  a  student  to  a  fountain 
of  knowledge,  but  you  can  make  neither  drink  unless  he  is 
thirsty.  If  the  thirst  is  there,  it  is  simple  to  slake  it  in  the 
University. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  a  thorough,  complete  merger 
of  Harvard  and  the  Institute  would,  on  the  grounds  of 
economy  and  efficiency,  have  much  in  its  favor ;  but  it  must 
be  thorough  and  whole-hearted  to  make  it  worth  while.  A 
complete  merger  of  the  two  under  the  mantle  of  Harvard 
would  seem  the  only  way,  not  only  for  the  sharing  of  the 
McKay  Endowment,  but  for  making  the  union  effective. 

A  greater  Harvard  is  a  big  thought,  but  it  seems  destined 
not  to  be  realized.  I  quite  understand  and  sympathize  with 
the  reasons  that  prevent  it ;  they  are  not  of  a  material  but 'of 
a  sentimental  nature,  and  they  involve  two  distinct  classes 
of  alumni,  both  with  pride  of  tradition,  both  believing  that 
they  can  stand  alone,  and  both  confident  of  their  future 
strength . 

The  writer  is  in  hearty  accord  with  President  Lowell 
when  he  says :  "The  value  of  education  comes  quite  as  much 
from  one's  fellow-students  as  from  the  instructors,  and  a 
certain  sized  body  of  students  is  essential  for  the  best  re- 
sults." Certainly,  the  Harvard  mantle,  in  point  of  num- 


bers,  would  in  mass  effect,  be  greater  than  what  the  Insti- 
tute could  offer. 

No  mandate  of  authority  will  make  two  sets  of  students 
blend  in  harmonious  social  accord  unless  the  desire  comes 
from  and  is  fostered  by  the  students  themselves ;  and  unless 
one  can  blend  the  alumni  of  Harvard  and  Tech.,  how  is  it 
possible  to  give  to  the  present  students  the  best  in  student 
life  by  dividing  their  loyalty  and  traditions? 

It  does  not  seem  fair  to  the  McKay  students  to  ask  them 
to  be  placed  in  a  position  in  which  their  parent  colleges  do 
not  unite  in  pride  of  their  birth.  It  savors  of  an  illicit  union 
or  clandestine  marriage. 

What  Harvard  could  give  and  what  the  Institute  could 
not  give  in  a  material  way  may  be  illustrated  by  the  state- 
ment that  an  engineer's  report  may  be  perfect  in  technique 
and  sound  in  all  its  conclusions,  but  absolutely  worthless 
in  practice  if  it  is  not  understood  or  appreciated  by  the  read- 
er who  has  the  power  of  decision.  In  other  words,  it  is 
necessary  for  those  in  authority  to  have  some  educational 
insight,  if  not  training,  and  contact  with  the;  engineer,  to 
understand  his  recommendations,  as  also  to  safeguard  him- 
self from  disaster  due  to  action  without  comprehension. 

The  Institute  does  not  pretend  to  be  a  good  training 
ground  for  the  future  statesman,  writer,  politician,  lawyer, 
journalist,  banker,  and  business  man.  The  throwing  to- 
gether in  formative  years  of  the  youth  of  these  several 
professions  and  putting  them  in  social  and  athletic  accord 
and  ambition,  will  result,  naturally,  in  later  years,  in  a  bet- 
ter understanding  of  one  another's  professions,  as  well  as 
individual  characters. 


32 

Alumni  gatherings,  from  time  to  time,  bring  them  in 
close  and  understanding  touch  in  after  life. 

The  engineer  has  for  building  material,  stone  and  min- 
erals, which  he  cannot  bend,  twist,  or  distort  to  cover 
mistakes  in  detail  calculation  or  final  judgment.  He  must 
stand  by  the  results  and  may  be  ruined  by  miscalculation. 
He  thus  must  seek  for  eternal  verities  rather  than  beautiful 
word  architecture. 

Contact  with  other  professional  men  and  a  better  knowl- 
edge of  the  fine  arts  may  result  in  more  flexibility  of  thought 
and  expression  in  the  engineer;  less  dull  mechanical  ways 
of  looking  at  life ;  give  him  greater  knowledge  and  power 
to  take  his  place  in  the  legislative  halls  of  the  nation  and  at 
the  council  tables  of  big  business;  and  present  opportunity 
of  having  his  work  passed  upon  and  appreciated  by  represen- 
tatives in  his  own  profession: 

On  the  other  hand,  the  word-architects  can  be  made  more 
conservative  and  useful  by  becoming  more  conversant  with 
the  principles  and  individuality  of  basic  fact  builders,  and 
believing  more  in  the  necessity  of  checking  inspirations  by 
outside  facts. 

Thus,  geyser  word-outpourings  of  internal  discontent,  of- 
ten stimulated  and  pioneered  in  seats  "of  learning,  and  parti- 
cularly in  Russia,  may  be  restrained,  Bolshevik  experiments 
may  be  avoided,  and  democracies  better  saved  from  them- 
selves and  made  more  worth  while  to  live  in. 

In  an  address  on  "Mining  as  a  Profession,"  delivered 
before  the  Columbia  School  of  Mines,  May,  1914,  by  the 
writer,  there  was  incorporated  a  set  of  diagrams  which 
show  for  the  United  States  the  progressive  growth  of  the 


33 

outputs  of  gold,  coal,  petroleum,  iron,  copper,  as  also  the 
progressive  membership  in  the  civil,  mining,  mechanical  and 
electrical  engineering  societies  in  this  country  from  1800  to 
1913.  'It- is  regretted  that  the  chemical  societies  were  not 
included,  but  they  have  been  in  close  sympathy  with  the 
others.  The  growth  of  population,  railway  mileage,  and  de- 
posits in  all  the  reporting  banks  are  shown  as  far  back 
as  records  exist. 

It  is  most  interesting  to  note,  first,  the  lack  of  parallelism 
of  the  curve  for  growth  of  population  with  those  for  rail- 
ways and  bank  deposits,  which  were  far  more  sympathetic 
with  the  'upward  plunges  of  the  curves  for  mineral  outputs. 

The  most  startling  thing  connected  with  the  diagrams  is 
the  showing  of  the  magnitude  and  newness  of  great  min- 
ing. The  growth  of  the  engineering  societies  is  also  shown 
in  close  parallelism  with  the  mineral  output  curves. 

The  following  table  gives  the  date  of  starting  growth, 
and  membership  in  1890  and  at  present,  of  these  societies : 

Membership        Percent  Increase 
Society  Start  growth  about  1890         1917  since  1890 

Civil  Engineers,  1871  1,300    8,600  561 

Mining  Engineers,  1872  1,900    6,587  246 

Mechanical   Engineers,  1880  1,000    9,000  800 

Electrical  Engineers,  1885  500    8,900  1680 

Chemical  Engineers,  1876  2,750  11,000  300 


Total,  7,450  44,087  600 

The  diagram  for  the  world's  mineral  output  is  a  fair  par- 
allel to  that  of  the  United  States,  and,  taken  together,  they 
seem  to  justify  the  statement  that  since  Mr.  McKay  made 
his  bequest  in  1891  far  more  coal,  iron,  copper  and  petrole- 


34 

um  have  been  taken  from  the  earth  than  in  the  whole  previ- 
ous existence  of  the  world. 

The  force  generated,  confined,  and  made  effective  by  the 
engineers  is  in  proportion  to  the  mineral  outputs,  and  thus 
during  the  last  few  years,  it  has  amounted,  in  muscular 
energy,  to  millions,  even  billions,  of  strong  men  units. 

The  diagrams  give  also  the  key  to  the  sudden  wealth  of 
the  world,  the  restlessness  and  lack  of  adjustment  and  hap- 
piness of  some  of  its  people.  It  has  been  too  sudden  for 
wholesome  digestion. 

They  also  show  why  this  war  is  so  largely  a  war  of  engi- 
neers and  chemists.  Are  they  not  the  marshallers  of  obe- 
dient servitors,  very  many  times  stronger  in  muscular  force 
than  all  the  men  in  the  combined  armies  of  the  world?  Do 
they  not  also  give  some  insight  into  the  causes  leading  to 
the  present  great  war?  Too  greedy  drinking  at  the  force 
fountains ! 

A  number  of  shining  milestones  of  crucial  discovery  and 
invention  could  be  set  forth,  showing  how  one  invention 
has  led  to  another,  and  how  engineering  of  today  has  grown 
on  the  practice  of  the  past,  but  this  is  not  possible  in  the 
scope  of  this  paper. 

It  may  be  wise  to  dwell  on  three  discoveries,  or  inventions, 
that  have  been  developed  since  the  McKay  Endowment  was 
established;  namely,  the  automobile,  the  aeroplane,  and  the 
securing  and  fixation  of  nitrogen  from  the  air. 

The  seed  of  the  automobile  was  sown  by  the  slow,  lumber- 
•ing  Trevethick  steam  carriage  in  1802 — over  116  years  ago 
— but  it  was  not  until  after  the  making  of  the  McKay  be- 
quest that  the  petrol  and  gasoline  automobile  had  its  devel- 


35 

opment.  Its  creation  was  a  triumph  of  the  patient  en- 
deavor of  mechanical  engineering,  supplemented  by  the  help 
of  the  engineering  brotherhood;  it  has  given  man  racing 
chariots  so  swift  that  the  accomplishments  of  those  in  the 
stadiums  of  old  seem  tortoise  marches.  The  speed  chariots 
have  been  followed  by  other  motor  vehicles  now  considered 
almost  a  necessity. 

Is  it  not  lack  of  all-round  culture  not  to  know  why  the 
automobile  runs  ? 

Langley's  aerodrome,  though  sound  in  principle,  made  its 
false  start  only  in  1896.    By  aid  of  the  mechanical  engineer,  - 
the  Wright  Brothers'  flight  was  made  possible  in  1908. 

Again,  has  not  the  prosy  mechanical  engineer,  with  his 
brethren,  given  man  wings  swifter  and  stronger  than  those 
of  the  eagle,  and  which  may  prove  the  decisive  factor  in 
this  terrible  war? 

Is  it  not  ignorance  not  to  have  some  comprehension  of  why 
the  aeroplane  flies? 

The  manufacture  of  nitrogenous  compounds  from  the  air 
is  a  matter  of  only  seven  or  eight  years  past.  In  this  the 
chemist  takes  first  place,  but  he  had  to  be  backed  by  his 
brother  engineers.  The  significance  of  the  accomplishment 
is  that  man  has  obtained  from  the  air  the  most  necessary 
ingredient  for  his  thundering  guns.  It  calls  to  mind  the 
Prometheus  fable,  for  man  has  stolen  Jupiter's  thunder- 
bolts, and  possibly  is  being  punished  for  his  presumption  by 
the  slaughter  of  his  best  youths  by  the  Krupp  shells.  There 
is  balm  even  in  this,  for  if  we  look  deep  and  far  enough 
we  find  that  the  nitrogren  thunderbolts  filched  from  the  air 
can  be  made  into  fertilizers  as  well  as  shells  and  make 


36 

two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  before  there  was  but  one. 

Will  it  not  soon  be  a  brand  of  ignorance  not  to  know  how 
man  has  been  able  to  steal  Jupiter's  thunderbolts? 

What,  in  fact,  is  the  meaning  of  the  great  manufacture 
and  distribution  of  force  that  has  taken  place  of  late  years  ? 
Is  it  not  again  the  scientist,  inventor,  and  engineer  in  all 
branches  who  has  created  an  Aladdin's  lamp  which,  when 
properly  rubbed,  brings  millions,  yes  billions,  of  obedient 
servitors  ? 

Have  not  the  men  who  have  done  these  things  much  to 
give?  Their  mental  and  character  fibre  will  be  crucially 
and  thoroughly  tried  out  by  the  cleansing  fires  of  war,  and, 
although  they  may  come  out  of  it  less  in  numbers,  I  am  bold 
to  prophesy  they  will  in  courage  and  efficiency  come  through 
unscathed. 

Alumni  of  Harvard,  have  you  not  as  great  need  for  such 
men  in  your  halls  and  annals  as  they  have  need  of  you? 

The  war  will  certainly  accentuate  the  usefulness  and  im- 
portance of  the  great  engineers  in  all  branches  of  the  profes- 
sion, and  the  student  material  will  be  more  and  more  de- 
sired by  the  universities  and  schools  of  this  country. 

Harvard  cannot  obtain  the  best  students  merely  by  us- 
ing the  money  from  the  McKay  Endowment.  Harvard 
University  must  make  them  feel — and  give  expression 
through  its  President,  Fellows,  teachers,  students,  and  alum- 
ni to  the  thought — that  it  needs  and  wants  the  student  of  sci- 
ence, both  pure  and  applied,  to  round  out  and  make  perfect 
and  enduring  its  best  culture,  and  that  it  welcomes  the  sci- 
entific student  heartily  and  does  not  consider  his  training  a 
burden. 


37 

Unless  this  can  be  done,  it  is  right  and  natural  for  the 
student  of  applied  science  to  go  where  the  "glad  hand" 
awaits  him. 

The  writer  is  of  the  belief  that  Harvard  has  now  the 
material  resources  within  its  grasp  to  lay  the  foundations 
for  an  applied-science  department  second  to  none  in  this 
country  in  point  of  excellence  and  usefulness.  The  work, 
however,  must  be  undertaken  with  courage  and  hope,  and 
no  patchwork  arrangement  with  the  Institute  allowed  to  dull 
and  paralyze  initiative  and  effort. 

There  is  need  for  all  that  both  Harvard  and  Tech  can 
give  for  the  training  of  the  future  engineer,  and  the  fear  of 
wasteful  and  overlapping  effort  seems  to  the  writer  more 
imaginary  than  real ;  wholesome,  friendly  competition  in 
similar  fields  might  result  in  a  good  tonic  to  both,  rather  than 
any  serious  detriment. 

Effort  has  been  made  here  to  show  that  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, between  1885  and  1906,  had  incorporated  in  her  teach- 
ing and  student  body  a  thriving  and  progressively-growing 
scientific  school  without  such  material  aid  as  the  McKay 
Endowment  Fund  now  permits. 

In  the  foregoing  the  writer  has  tentatively  given  sugges- 
tions which  he  considers  helpful  and  wise  for  the  future, 
but  he  does  not  pretend  to  have  elaborated  them  or  put  them 
in  form  for  final  usefulness.  His  hope  is  that  this  article 
will  give  information  which  others  have  not  had  so  much 
opportunity  of  obtaining  as. he  has  had,  and  that  his  sug- 
gestions may  be  stimuli  for  further  and  better  suggestions. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  one  of  the  great  and 
good  things  of  the  McKay  Endowment  is  that  it  permits 


38 

experiments  and  even  false  starts  without  great  injury  to 
the  final  usefulness  of  the  Endowment  Fund.  The  sooner, 
however,  comprehensive  plans  for  slow  growth  are  laid 
down  and  cultivated,  the  greater  its  usefulness  in  this  gener- 
ation. 


Washington,  D.  C., 
February,  1918. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

to  immediate  recall. 


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Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

PAT  JAN.  21.  BOX 


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